chronicles of an igorot in australia. a photoblog in parts, this is intended as a diary, travelogue, memoir, journal, palimpsest, igorot blog, accounts of misadventures, running battles or whatever it turns out to be. there might be souls out there with common interests. do post a comment.

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Parkrun - a walk in the park

Parkruns are run in various parks and places from the mountains to the seaside. In Australia there are parkruns on the mountains, hills, valleys and next to the oceans, seafronts and beaches, rivers, lakes, brooks and forests and others. It is a wonderful way of touring the out-of-the-way places that are often more interesting than popular tourist destinations. In 2013 I put on my travelling shoes for a parkrun tour.

North Lakes parkrun comprises three laps around Lake Eden. Indeed the lake is so beautiful that you have to go around it not once, not twice, but three times to truly enjoy its features. My parkrun tour commenced here in January. I think.

Rain or shine, the parkrun show goes on - except perhaps in a thunderstorm or when the park is flooded. New Farm parkrun is
is an out-and-back course, on the northshore of the Brisbane River. Commencing from New Farm Park, the course goes northerly past the Powerhouse museum thence along to Teneriffe and back. Apparently a few runners get stunned by the views across the Brisbane river to Bulimba and Hawthorne, that sometimes they run into other users of the pathway. Look out for other people on the paths please.

Sandgate parkrun is on the esplanade on Moreton Bay. It starts in Arthur Davis Park then follows the esplanade heading north towards
Decker Park and back. Gentle breezes blow in from the bay all day.

South Bank parkrun is a single anti-clockwise loop of a section of the Brisbane River taking in some of
Brisbane's most iconic landmarks. Starting from the parklands beach, the course follows the river downstream towards the Queensland Maritime Museum, then turns left over the Goodwill Bridge. At the north bank in Gardens Point, it turns
left again to follow the Bicentennial Bikeway upstream all the way to the Go Between
Bridge. The course then crosses this bridge back to the southern bank where it loops underneath
the adjacent railway bridge to re-join the pathway along the river. The homestretch runs along the
river past GoMA, the State Library, QPAC, the Wheel of Brisbane and finishing
at the Riverside Green.

The Cairns parkrun course in far north Queensland, starts at the northern end of the
Cairns Esplanade then goes really troppo north to the turnaround point towards the southern outskirts of the airport and back.

Kingscliff (NSW) parkrun is an out-and-back course behind the sand dunes and she oaks (casuarinas) alongside the
Pacific Ocean.

Gladstone course in central Queensland, starts from
the Lions Park then goes west along the banks of Police Creek and then on towards the banks of the scenic Lake Callemondah
to the turning point at the start of the
weir.

The
Mitchelton course is an out and back course following the Kedron Brook bikeway. Commencing from Teralba park in Osborne Road, it heads east to the turning point outside the sporting fields of Everton Park high school, just past the South
Pine Road bridge.

The first trail parkrun in Australia is a challenging course across rough
ground. Bunyaville parkrun starts in James Drysdale reserve then gets onto a gravel path and then up a
dirt single track into Bunyaville forest. The forest track is a beautiful winding rolling trail with enough downhill and uphill and flats to test every runner of every ability and age and running orientation (sprinter or climber, downhill daredevil or bitumen or road racer or trail runner). There's a creek crossing, biking and horsing, snake crossing, spiders crossing, koala crossing, and wallaby crossing, but no zebra crossing.

There are many other parkruns in Southeast Queensland. I have visited Wynnum, Upper Coomera and Main Beach too in recent times. I tend to just follow the crowd, such as when some parkrunners did the first ever longest parkrun.

I picked up a copy of my local weekly rag the other day and found this article about Bunyaville parkrun.

The article was poorly written. It had no title or photos but instead had lots of
mistakes. I could not even find page 7. It is no
wonder that the writer did not even put his name to it. He should be
sacked by the paper.